API reports increase in U.S. crude oil inventories for last week

HOUSTON, July 25 (Xinhua) — The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported an increase of 1.319 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories for the week ending July 21.

Analysts had expected a drop of 1.969 million barrels for the week.

The API reported a decline of 0.797 million barrels in the previous week.

Oil prices gained on Tuesday. The West Texas Intermediate for September delivery added 89 cents to settle at 79.63 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.